I would suggest that what we have on this newsgroup is pretty unique.
Not only do we have a regular poster who was part of the Oyster design
but we also have a (bit touchy) front line staff member who is trying
to make sense of the Oyster rules.

The fact that both of them are finding it confusing tells me that it
is unrealistic to expect Ken to know any more than what the PR
releases tell him. (Which as we all know - is not a lot!)

As an ex-Londoner watching from foreign parts (Germany), it's interesting to
see how many people have parted with good money for something they don't
know all that much about and then ask here for advice from others who do
know; some through their own experience and others because they are helpful
chappies and chappesses :-) . Am I wrong, or is it a bit like buying a car
with an Automatic Transmission and then taking it back because it won't
drive itself? If one buys a camera or PC or something that needs a bit of
explaining then surely one doesn't leave the shop without feeling confident
that one can use it without having to refer to the instruction manual each
time.
Still, that's just my observation from a distance, maybe Oyster (2nd
generation) will be better!

Paul B.

Damned Boche...!!!

Paul wrote:
. Am I wrong, or is it a bit like buying a car
with an Automatic Transmission and then taking it back because it won't
drive itself? If one buys a camera or PC or something that needs a bit of
explaining then surely one doesn't leave the shop without feeling confident
that one can use it without having to refer to the instruction manual each
time.

I think a lot of the people who post here are the "early adopters",
i.e. people who know the future when they see it and will have a go
without checking properly whether it's a mature technology yet. So
it's not so much like buying an automatic car, more like buying a
hydrogen car and then "discussing" all the ins and outs of it.

(Mind you, the fact is that Oyster is nothing like new technology
by international standards. I've heard about Hong Kong, but less
often discussed is Seoul, which has had Oyster prepay on all modes
of transport for many years. They have a system where you re-swipe
your card at the exit of a bus if you are catching a connecting
service. As long as you catch your connection promptly, the combined
journey is charged rather than two single fares. Can we have that
on Oyster please? In 2015, perhaps?)